By Lauren C. Williams
Feb 10, 2021
The Army is leading the Defense Department s strategy for making platforms and devices to counter small unmanned aerial systems usable by all service members.
In January, the Pentagon released its counter sUAS strategy, highlighting the threats posed by the growing number of small drones to siphon off data and endanger DOD personnel, facilities and assets.
The idea is to make the counter-UAS job agnostic, according to Marc Pelini, division chief for capabilities and requirements for the Pentagon s Army-led Joint Counter Small UAS Office (JCO). I think inherently the Army is really looking hard at making counter-UAS a [military occupational specialty] agnostic platform where . anyone from a cook to a medic to an infantryman, tanker can operate the system, Pelini told reporters on Feb. 2.
Feb 10, 2021
The Army wants to expand its existing smart base transportation testbed at Fort Carson, Colo., to include smart traffic and weather artificial intelligence platforms.
Fort Carson’s testbed already includes a 4G/5G network, an autonomous vehicle shuttle for personnel and drone airfield services for debris detection and analysis. Now the Army plans to leverage the existing testbed and expand into the Colorado Springs local community with sensor deployment, data integration and the development of AI models and decision dashboards that integrate traffic and weather-related information.
The Army Corps of Engineers announced on Feb. 1 that it will be partnering with US Ignite in a follow-on contract to R&D work the nonprofit performed on the smart transportation platform. The initial project also gave the Army the opportunity to experiment with AI, data analytics and edge computing.
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) will chair a new subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee focused on cybersecurity, emerging tech and information systems.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has published requirements that can help organizations protect controlled unclassified information against nation-state backed threats.